History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 9 (of 12)Maspero, G. (Gaston)
History
History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 9 (of 12)
Maspero, G. (Gaston)
Civilization, Ancient; Egypt -- History -- To 640 A.D.; History, Ancient; Middle East -- History
** In Herodotus where a dynast named Kyberniskos, son of
Sika, is mentioned among the commanders of the fleet. The
received text of Herodotus needs correction, and we should
read Kybernis, son of Kossika, some of whose coins are still
in existence.
*** The Cilician contingent in the fleet of Xerxes at
Salamis was commanded by Syennesis himself, and Cilicia
never had a satrap until the time of Cyrus the younger.
[Illustration: 181.jpg MAP OF THE ARCHAEMENIAN STRAPIES]
Native magistrates and kings still bore sway in Phoenicia* and Cyprus,
and the shekhs of the desert preserved their authority over the
marauding and semi-nomadic tribes of Idumasa, Nabatsea, Moab, and Ammon,
and the wandering Bedawin on the Euphrates and the Khabur. Egypt,
under Darius, remained what she had been under the Saitic and Ethiopian
dynasties, a feudal state governed by a Pharaoh, who, though a
foreigner, was yet reputed to be of the solar race; the land continued
to be divided unequally into diverse principalities, Thebes still
preserving its character as a theocracy under the guidance of the
pallacide of Amon and her priestly counsellors, while the other
districts subsisted under military chieftains. Our information
concerning the organisation of the central and eastern provinces is
incomplete, but it is certain that here also the same system prevailed.
In the years of peace which succeeded the troubled opening of his reign,
that is, from 519 to 515 B.C.,** Darius divided the whole empire into
satrapies, whose number varied at different periods of his reign from
twenty to twenty-three, and even twenty-eight.***
* Three kings, viz. the kings of Sidon, Tyre, and Arvad,
bore commands in the Phoenician fleet of Xerxes.
** Herodotus states that this dividing of the empire into
provinces took place immediately after the accession of
Darius, and this mistake is explained by the fact that he
ignores almost entirely the civil wars which filled the
earliest years of the reign. His enumeration of twenty
satrapies comprises India and omits Thrace, which enables us
to refer the drawing up of his list to a period before the
Scythian campaign, viz. before 514 B.C. Herodotus very
probably copied it from the work of Hecatseus of Miletus,
and consequently it reproduces a document contemporary with
Darius himself.
*** The number twenty is, as has been remarked, that given
by Herodotus, and probably by Hecataeus of Miletus. The great
Behistun Inscription enumerates twenty-three countries, and
the Inscription of Nakhsh-i-Rustem gives twenty-eight.
Persia proper was not included among these, for she had been the cradle
of the reigning house, and the instrument of conquest.*
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account